Mary Avenue Overcrossing

Progress

The City has hired a consultant to work on the Transportation Impact Analysis (TIA) and outline the impacts and benefits resulting from the five selected alternatives. Community engagement events will be scheduled for September 2020. Public input gathered during these events will help inform the selection of a preferred project as it relates to the Environmental Impact Report (EIR).

Details

Map of location

As part of the EIR, we are analyzing the following project options:

1. Four lanes of motor vehicle travel with sidewalks and protected bicycle facilities
2. Two lanes of motor vehicle travel with sidewalks and protected bicycle facilities
3. One or two lanes for transit, shuttle and high-occupancy vehicles with sidewalks and protected bicycle facilities
4. Pedestrian and bicycle overcrossing
5. Removal of the overcrossing from the General Plan

Documents

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires that all state and local government agencies consider the environmental consequences of projects for which they have discretional authority. The following documents have been prepared in relation to the EIR.

Notice of Preparation (NOP) of the Environmental Impact Report

Past meeting materials include the following:

Community Kickoff, Jan. 17, 2017
Study Session 17-0030, Feb. 28, 2017 - Mary Avenue Overcrossing Environmental Impact Staff Presentation
CEQA Scoping Meeting, March 21, 2017
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission 17-0731, July 20, 2017 - Mary Avenue Overcrossing Update Staff Presentation

The following policies also refer to the Mary Avenue Overcrossing project:

City of Sunnyvale General Plan
Moffett Park Specific Plan Update 2013
Peery Park Specific Plan 2016

Background

Mary Avenue Overcrossing was included in the following City of Sunnyvale plans:

• 1972 City of Sunnyvale General Plan
• 1981 Transportation Element
• 1997 Land Use and Transportation Element
• 2004 Moffett Park Specific Plan
• 2005 Traffic Impact Fee
• 2011 Consolidated General Plan
• 2013 Moffett Park Specific Plan Update
• 2016 Peery Park Specific Plan

In 2007, the City of Sunnyvale completed a Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Mary Avenue Extension. Many members of the community provided comments on the Draft EIR. Key concerns related to traffic congestion, traffic speed, pedestrian and bicyclist safety, air pollution and emissions, noise, property values, smart growth, transit access, and merchant revenues.

Responses were provided to community comments, and City Council certified the Final EIR and approved the Mary Avenue Extension project in October 2008. In 2009, the Sunnyvale West Neighborhood Association filed a legal challenge against the City regarding the adequacy of the EIR document based on the use of a 2020 traffic baseline for the traffic analysis. The Superior Court granted the petition in 2009, and the 6th District Court of Appeal upheld the Superior Court decision in 2010. City Council subsequently decertified the EIR and voided the project approval in 2011. Without an adequate EIR, no action has occurred on the project since that time.

The 2011 Consolidated General Plan included a policy to preserve the option of extending Mary Avenue to the industrial areas north of US-101. Mary Avenue Extension was also included in the Moffett Park and Peery Park Specific Plans, as well as several other documents which identified the project as a mitigation measure for impacts on automobile level of service (LOS).